Man heads to prison in cartel murder-for-hire plot that snared U.S. soldiers on border

Screen capture of a paramilitary group which vowed to “eliminate” the Zetas, reputedly Mexico’s most violent drug gang, in a video posted on the Internet on July 27, 2011 several days after 49 bodies were found on the streets of Veracruz. The video, according to its creators, shows a group of masked men, dressed in black and seated at a white table, calling themselves the “Mata Zetas, ” or “Kill Zetas.” (AFP/Getty Images)

A Colorado man is headed to prison for his part in a borderland murder-for-hire scheme which involved a U.S. Army officer being duped by undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as members of the Zetas cartel who needed a Texas hit squad.

Shavar Davis, 30, was sentenced to 10 years after he pleaded guilty in Laredo to conspiring to traffic cocaine and for the murder for hire.

U.S. District Judge George Kazen gave Davis 10 years for each crime, but he’ll be allowed to serve them at the same time, according to prosecutors.

During the investigation, the DEA agents posing as Mexican cartel gangsters spoke with Army officer Kevin Corley, who said he could provide tactical training to members of the cartel and that get them military style rifles, ammunition and other weaponry.

Prior to being arrested, Corley told the agents he had a Ka-Bar knife to carve a “Z” into the victim’s chest, and was going to chop up the body with a hatchet,” notes a statement released by the Houston-headquartered U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Marcus Mickle is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14.

Corley, who previously pleaded guilty to a marijuana conspiracy, has been sentenced 30 months in prison. Although negotiations with the undercover agents began long before, Corley had left the Army the same month he was arrested in Laredo.